The National Gallery of Australia began to collect European and American painting and sculpture in the 1970s. At this time it became clear that the Gallery's mission would be to show works of art from all the cultures of the world, not only that of European Australians, Europe being the continent from which most immigrants have come to Australia. The collection includes works from every continent, concentrating on the cultures that underpin contemporary life, those of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In October 2002, twenty years after its doors opened to the public in 1982, the Gallery is publishing more of its collections of 430 paintings and sculptures made by European and American artists on its website. It will be possible to examine all these holdings, from a handful of examples of the art of ancient Greece and Renaissance Italy to many works of art made in the last decades.

Subject to copyright permission, photographic reproductions of the paintings and sculptures accompany all the catalogue details of the National Gallery's works: the artist's name, country, dates of birth and death, the title and date of the painting or sculpture, its medium, size, any inscriptions, and the provenance (or known history of ownership). Many of the catalogue entries include exhibition histories, particular literature, and a discussion of the meaning and context of the work.

European or American?
For ease of reference, the catalogue is divided into European and American categories. Any artists who have made art in both continents, such as Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Mary Kelly or David Hockney, are included in both catalogues.

How to read the catalogues:
b&w = black-and-white
c. = centre
c.l. = centre left
c.r. = centre right
illus. = illustrated
inscribed = extra information written on the work by the artist
l.c. = lower centre
l.l. = lower left
l.r. = lower right
obverse = on the head or portrait side of a medal
recto = on the side of the work's support facing the viewer
reverse = on the thematic side of a medal, as in 'tails' for a coin
u.c. = upper centre
u.l. = upper left
u.r. = upper right
verso = on the reverse side of the work's support, usually canvas or paper